« It was the spookiest horror ride anywhere! Mr. Awrus… a charming little old man, really… made it that way, because he liked to entertain people! But then the snake-thing arrived… and the others… heh-heh… and people went in… and didn’t come out… » — Horror Beasts Dine Tonight
Forrest J. Ackerman and James Warren’s Famous Monsters of Filmland, despite its own humble beginnings (or partly thanks to them!) went on to inspire quite a spate of imitators of… varying quality.
First out of the gate was Irwin Stein’s Magnum Publications, with Monster Parade (four issues). It was soon followed by Monsters and Things (two issues).
As for the magazine’s grimy guts, there’s regrettably nothing outstanding: a couple of reprints of pre-Code material that was pedestrian to begin with… Curse of the Living Crossbones, illustrated by Ken Rice (a retitled Spectres of the Jolly Roger and True Tales of Unexplained Mystery #44, a one-pager about vengeful German gargoyles, illustrated by Sy Grudko, both plucked, minus colour, from Web of Mystery no. 22 (Jan. 1954, Ace Magazines).
Of further interest: An intriguing article about M&T’s predecessor, Monster Parade: http://frankensteinia.blogspot.ca/…/covers-of…
Still, it must be said that the dank, meandering back alleys of sleaze magazine publishing of the era are oddly fascinating, if decidedly disreputable places.
– RG
Who's Out There? 